OMG, the chicks like the nasty stuff, too!

Following the sweeping success of softcore sensation Fifty Shades of Grey, the lamestream media is figuring out that mommies and other normal-seeming ladies like to read about sex—in public. Whoa. What's next? Women having sex for reasons other than reproduction? Hold onto your hats!

The Wall Street Journal investigates the scandalous new trend of women using their e-readers to disguise the tawdry nature of their reading materials, allowing them to indulge in these illicit tales just about anywhere. And they find that ladies everywhere are plunging deep into the bosom of the genre known as "romantica"—sexy romance novels read on electronic devices. These tantalizing tales feature the kind of love stories chicks dug back when we were just plain readers, not e-readers. But now, in addition to the oodles of sex scenes, they have lots of pop culture-type of stuff too. For instance, you might choose to dive into the pages of Flat-Out Sexy, which is Nascar-inspired and, "depicts the torrid attraction between a rookie driver, Elec, and Tamara, the widow of a beloved driver who died in a crash." Sounds like enough to drive any woman cray-zay.

Whether you like your sex scenes all loaded down with romance and HEA (Happily Ever After), which many of these stories have plenty of, or whether you prefer dirty whorish sex with no lurve involved, you can soak it up via your Kindle or iPad free from the judging eyes of your fellow subway riders or soccer practice watchers. As Brenda Knight of erotica publisher Cleis Press said, e-readers "are the ultimate brown paper wrapper."

Women, being the crafty, clever little minxes that we are, figured this out all by ourselves and have been purchasing electronic erotica with increasingly frequent, rhythmic thrusts of our finger onto the "buy now" button. Kelly Gallagher, vice president of Bowker Market Research, reports that nearly 40% of all new romance books purchased are in digital form. (For reference, it's about 20% for most other adult trade genres.) Cleis Press says their digital sales have grown 30 percent since they started in 2008. That's a lot of electronically torn bodices. (source)

While the porn discussed above is of the literary kinds, I read somewhere that something like 40% of those perusing hardcore porn online are female.

Whether you are male or female, how do you feel about the idea that women are digging porn?